Friday, July 11, 2008

Dead-tired rivals

Before Edson Buddle scored in the 72nd minute, we were headed towards a 1-0 result which would have matched the second lowest-scoring Clasico. As it stood, the match only featured two goals as the result was the same from the second Clasico in '07.

A good effort by Chivas' defense as well as the standout play of Brad Guzan kept the Galaxy from doing further damage while Sacha Kljestan had a potential match-winner bang off the post late.

Ultimately, though, it seemed like a fair result, even if it did take everything out of them.

Here are my stories for MLSnet.com and The Press-Enterprise. One of the themes of both stories is the fatigue factor. Both teams gave everything they could. After 90 minutes of play, the game had taken it all out of them as players on both sides said fatigue and exhaustion were prevalent at the end.

Maybe the late start time had something to do with that. It wasn't until 8:15 that the match kicked off. By the time the whistle blew, it was nearly 10:10 or so and by that time usually players are showered and dressed.

But ultimately, though, the rivals did well to play up to a rivalry game, and their bodies paid the price.

2 comments:

The Hammer said...

Correct me if I'm wrong. Because of tonight's score, anything less than a 3 goal win for the goats would = Galaxy are 2008 LA Derby Champions, non?

A.C. said...

Yes, hammer, you're right.